The communication system involved is especially a communication system within industrial automation technology. The communication system is preferably used at the sensor/actuator level.
The communication system comprises at least one slave and one master, which is connected via the communication system to the slave or the slaves. The master can communicate with the slave or the slaves via the communication bus.
Data is transmitted within the communication system by way of the OFDM method. OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) is a method of modulation which uses a number of orthogonal carriers for digital data transmission.
If a safety-critical application is controlled by way of the master and the slave then it must be ensured that the master always communicates with the slave in an orderly manner or that errors in communication are detected. Master and slaves which meet the requirements for such safe communication will usually be referred to as safe masters and safe slaves.